Tuesday, I saw a Beervana post that I found pretty interesting - in it, Jeff analyzes the recently-released 2014 in-state sales figures for Oregon breweries. It's a great bit of info - definitely check it out. You should take a look at the figures - they're available in PDF form here.
What most interests me about this sort of analysis is assessing how a brewery's change in sales might give some insight into their long-term goals.
As I live and drink in Eugene, seeing its three largest (and best) breweries listed in the top 20 is heartening. The really interesting number here is Hop Valley's - its in-state beer sales have nearly tripled since this time last year, while Oakshire and Ninkasi have experienced small declines. Without having more information, I'd venture this simply means that Hop Valley's been pushing in-state sales expansions really hard, while Oakshire and Ninkasi are currently more focused on selling more beer out of state.
Of the other breweries in town, only Hop Valley's Springfield brewpub and Falling Sky sold more than 1000 barrels of beer in Oregon last year - everyone else has done significantly less than that.
It's also a neat exercise (with the obvious disclaimer that excluding out-of-state sales necessarily skews the numbers) to comprehend the relative size of local breweries. Roughly, Ninkasi is twice the size of Hop Valley, which is itself twice the size of Oakshire. We can also probably say that Falling Sky, Steelhead, and Hop Valley's brewpub are all about the same size. The same is true of Claim 52 and Sam Bond's. Rogue's since-closed Eugene pub and Viking also made about the same amount of beer last year.
The true value of having all this information publicly available is that it allows folks like me to create narratives to flesh the data out into an interesting story. So here's what I'd like to say.
It's clear that Eugene's craft beer movement is still gaining steam - pretty much every brewery in town grew in some capacity last year. Hop Valley is definitely leading the pack in terms of aggressive growth - they installed lots of new fermentation tanks over the course of the year, and are really starting to fill the large warehouse space that seemed so empty when they opened. But Ninkasi's drive to essentially own their little corner of the Whit is continuing unabated, with their new production facility, office building, and the fact that they hosted last year's Sasquatch festival.
Claim 52 and Viking have both really come into their own in the last year - their beers have become much higher quality and much more consistent, and I'm starting to see them around town quite often. And of course, there's the new guys - Elk Horn and Sam Bond's - which still have quite a long way to go but are making strides in the right direction.
There's also Mancave Brewing, which looks to be on track to open sometime in the summer, and I'm sure there's plenty of other breweries in various stages of completion.
It's certainly an exciting time to be a beer lover in Eugene - the sales numbers are a concrete reminder of this reality.
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Breweries of Portland: Hopworks
I'm kind of surprised I've not yet written about Hopworks - it's one of my favorite breweries to visit if I find myself in Portland. There's a lot of good reasons for that.
The number one draw for any pub should be the beer, and Hopworks has always made interesting, varied, and high-quality brews. The brewers seem equally adept at making crisp light lagers as they do heavy barrel-aged sours and stouts. Hopworks is one of those rare breweries where I haven't had a single misfire. There's definitely been some beers I didn't care for, but it's always been because they're not to my taste, not that they're conceptually flawed or poorly made.
Here are some highlights from my most recent visit:
IPA - Has fantastic dry hop aroma and is exceptionally well-balanced. A really fine blend of malt and hops that finishes slightly bitter.
Abominable - This is what winter ales should taste like. Definitely more malt-forward than the IPA, but it still has prominent hopping, and it nearly balances out on the finish, with a slight lasting sweetness.
Totally Radler - I was really surprised by this. I've had plenty of shandies and radlers in the past, but nothing quite so good. This uses Hopworks' lager as the base, which is an excellent beer in its own right, and adds lemonade. It's a very sessionable 3% ABV, and the beer adds a bit of bitterness and character to the lemonade. Even on the cold blustery day of my visit, it was still incredibly refreshing.
Seven Grain Survival Stout - Somehow I'd never noticed that this stout is made with coffee (as well as the eponymous seven types of grain). It's definitely on the roastier, acidic side of the coffee beer spectrum, but remains quite enjoyable even so.
Of course, with all this great beer, one needs equally great food to pair it with. Hopworks here does nothing especially flashy, just consistently above-average and reasonably-priced pub fare like burgers and pizza. My criterion for knowing if the food is worthwhile is whether I could bring a non-drinker here and have them come away happy with the experience. By that metric, Hopworks succeeds handily.
Finally, there's the sense of atmosphere. Hopworks is a very industrial, spare setting, with plenty of seating on multiple levels, and a definite bike theme running through the whole restaurant and brewery. I also really like the design choice of having the brewery proper set below the restaurant - it's clear a lot of thought went into the design of the building.
On the whole, Hopworks remains one of the best overall food-and-beer experiences in Portland - no easy feat, as there's lots of great options around the city. It's definitely worth a visit.
The number one draw for any pub should be the beer, and Hopworks has always made interesting, varied, and high-quality brews. The brewers seem equally adept at making crisp light lagers as they do heavy barrel-aged sours and stouts. Hopworks is one of those rare breweries where I haven't had a single misfire. There's definitely been some beers I didn't care for, but it's always been because they're not to my taste, not that they're conceptually flawed or poorly made.
Here are some highlights from my most recent visit:
IPA - Has fantastic dry hop aroma and is exceptionally well-balanced. A really fine blend of malt and hops that finishes slightly bitter.
Abominable - This is what winter ales should taste like. Definitely more malt-forward than the IPA, but it still has prominent hopping, and it nearly balances out on the finish, with a slight lasting sweetness.
Totally Radler - I was really surprised by this. I've had plenty of shandies and radlers in the past, but nothing quite so good. This uses Hopworks' lager as the base, which is an excellent beer in its own right, and adds lemonade. It's a very sessionable 3% ABV, and the beer adds a bit of bitterness and character to the lemonade. Even on the cold blustery day of my visit, it was still incredibly refreshing.
Seven Grain Survival Stout - Somehow I'd never noticed that this stout is made with coffee (as well as the eponymous seven types of grain). It's definitely on the roastier, acidic side of the coffee beer spectrum, but remains quite enjoyable even so.
Of course, with all this great beer, one needs equally great food to pair it with. Hopworks here does nothing especially flashy, just consistently above-average and reasonably-priced pub fare like burgers and pizza. My criterion for knowing if the food is worthwhile is whether I could bring a non-drinker here and have them come away happy with the experience. By that metric, Hopworks succeeds handily.
Finally, there's the sense of atmosphere. Hopworks is a very industrial, spare setting, with plenty of seating on multiple levels, and a definite bike theme running through the whole restaurant and brewery. I also really like the design choice of having the brewery proper set below the restaurant - it's clear a lot of thought went into the design of the building.
On the whole, Hopworks remains one of the best overall food-and-beer experiences in Portland - no easy feat, as there's lots of great options around the city. It's definitely worth a visit.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
'Slow Ride' and Brewery Litigiousness
Earlier this week, I was informed of a legal dispute between New Belgium Brewing and Oasis Texas Brewing, a small operation out of Austin.
A good article on the issue can be found here.
The specifics of the dispute aren't particularly interesting - essentially, New Belgium's introducing a beer called Slow Ride, and filed a trademark to that effect. Oasis was first to market with an identically-named pale ale, and they've been hashing out a compromise for the past couple of months.
This argument brings up a couple of interesting points, but first I'd like to provide a bit more context.
Craft beer, since its resurgence almost 30 years ago, has been a strangely cooperative industry, with brewers often working together - sharing ingredients, recipes, and equipment - and often informally agreeing not to compete locally with similar styles. The reasons for this are myriad and vary from brewery to brewery, but I think the biggest is simply that craft brewers haven't really been competing against each other. Rather, their aim has been to siphon off drinkers of large macro-based breweries such as SAB MillerCoors or AB Inbev. And someone who gets hooked on one small brewery's IPA is probably more likely to try another's.
So the general aim of craft breweries hasn't been to create rabid, exclusive fans of specific breweries. Instead, they want to create generalist craft drinkers who might feel like a pint of Stone one night and an Oakshire the next. In this sense, by growing the total base of craft drinkers, the craft industry as a whole has benefited. And by all accounts, this strategy's been wildly successful - craft beer is posting national double digit gains for something like the 10th year in a row, and this seems to show no signs of slowing down.
This rapid growth is beginning to have consequences, though, as this lawsuit illustrates. With something like 3000 breweries and pubs operating in the US, each producing many distinct beers, it's probably inevitable that lawsuits and disagreements like this would happen. What's remarkable to me isn't that these are happening - it's that they're not happening more often.
I wonder what things will look like when breweries start seeing each other as true rivals and begin to behave accordingly. I think over the next several years, we'll start to see a definite shift as craft beer stops stealing chunks of the macro-based market and has to grow by competing on its own terms.
A good article on the issue can be found here.
The specifics of the dispute aren't particularly interesting - essentially, New Belgium's introducing a beer called Slow Ride, and filed a trademark to that effect. Oasis was first to market with an identically-named pale ale, and they've been hashing out a compromise for the past couple of months.
This argument brings up a couple of interesting points, but first I'd like to provide a bit more context.
Craft beer, since its resurgence almost 30 years ago, has been a strangely cooperative industry, with brewers often working together - sharing ingredients, recipes, and equipment - and often informally agreeing not to compete locally with similar styles. The reasons for this are myriad and vary from brewery to brewery, but I think the biggest is simply that craft brewers haven't really been competing against each other. Rather, their aim has been to siphon off drinkers of large macro-based breweries such as SAB MillerCoors or AB Inbev. And someone who gets hooked on one small brewery's IPA is probably more likely to try another's.
So the general aim of craft breweries hasn't been to create rabid, exclusive fans of specific breweries. Instead, they want to create generalist craft drinkers who might feel like a pint of Stone one night and an Oakshire the next. In this sense, by growing the total base of craft drinkers, the craft industry as a whole has benefited. And by all accounts, this strategy's been wildly successful - craft beer is posting national double digit gains for something like the 10th year in a row, and this seems to show no signs of slowing down.
This rapid growth is beginning to have consequences, though, as this lawsuit illustrates. With something like 3000 breweries and pubs operating in the US, each producing many distinct beers, it's probably inevitable that lawsuits and disagreements like this would happen. What's remarkable to me isn't that these are happening - it's that they're not happening more often.
I wonder what things will look like when breweries start seeing each other as true rivals and begin to behave accordingly. I think over the next several years, we'll start to see a definite shift as craft beer stops stealing chunks of the macro-based market and has to grow by competing on its own terms.
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Breweries of Eugene: Plank Town
My recent trip through most of Eugene's breweries brought an interesting series of omissions to light: I haven't holistically reviewed several of them. Well, time to change that.
Today I'd like to talk a bit about Plank Town, over in Springfield. I've visited them several times since their opening in February 2013.
As the only brewery located in downtown Springfield proper, Plank Town could probably get away with being mediocre in every respect while still being quite successful. Thankfully, they've consistently aspired higher - focusing on above-average pub food, a cozy, wood-centric atmosphere (as befits the name), and most importantly, British-inflected ales and lagers that never fail to surprise and delight.
On my most recent visit with a whole bunch of friends, we decided to sample every beer available at the time. Here're a few highlights:
ESB - It's sad to say, but I can't think of a brewery in Eugene or Springfield that regularly makes a good extra special bitter. Plank Town is up to the task, and this is a sweet, malty take on the style, with just enough earthy hops to balance everything out.
Dry Irish Stout - Although their Foggy Scotsman Porter and Streetcar Stout are both worthy dark ales, this was the true standout for me. It's light and dry, with an excellent roasted character, and finishes extraordinarily clean, inviting further investigation.
Riptooth IPA - Proving that it's not just traditionally British styles Plank Town does well, this is a very fine Northwestern IPA with characteristically tropical and piney hop flavors and aroma. It finishes with a big hit of bitterness before mellowing out on the aftertaste.
Luckily for me, Plank Town's just a short (and scenic) bike ride away, so I expect I'll be visiting them quite often as the weather warms up. I recommend y'all do the same.
Today I'd like to talk a bit about Plank Town, over in Springfield. I've visited them several times since their opening in February 2013.
As the only brewery located in downtown Springfield proper, Plank Town could probably get away with being mediocre in every respect while still being quite successful. Thankfully, they've consistently aspired higher - focusing on above-average pub food, a cozy, wood-centric atmosphere (as befits the name), and most importantly, British-inflected ales and lagers that never fail to surprise and delight.
On my most recent visit with a whole bunch of friends, we decided to sample every beer available at the time. Here're a few highlights:
ESB - It's sad to say, but I can't think of a brewery in Eugene or Springfield that regularly makes a good extra special bitter. Plank Town is up to the task, and this is a sweet, malty take on the style, with just enough earthy hops to balance everything out.
Dry Irish Stout - Although their Foggy Scotsman Porter and Streetcar Stout are both worthy dark ales, this was the true standout for me. It's light and dry, with an excellent roasted character, and finishes extraordinarily clean, inviting further investigation.
Riptooth IPA - Proving that it's not just traditionally British styles Plank Town does well, this is a very fine Northwestern IPA with characteristically tropical and piney hop flavors and aroma. It finishes with a big hit of bitterness before mellowing out on the aftertaste.
Luckily for me, Plank Town's just a short (and scenic) bike ride away, so I expect I'll be visiting them quite often as the weather warms up. I recommend y'all do the same.
Saturday, March 7, 2015
Crowlers: A Viable Replacement for Growlers?
A friend recently linked me to this article about Oskar Blues selling their crowler machines to other bars and breweries.
I've made my feelings known about the utility of growlers in the past. To summarize briefly: growlers are awkward, cumbersome, difficult to clean and fill properly, and only keep beer fresh for a very short time. Their great success is, I think, owed more to a lack of viable alternatives than any inherent virtues.
So, enter the crowler. A crowler is essentially an on-demand 32oz can of beer that can be created using a modified tabletop metal seamer. It's half the size of a standard growler, but the benefits are numerous: it stays as fresh as a brewery-canned beer until opened, doesn't require cleaning (as the can is recycled like any other aluminum product when it's empty), and can be taken places glass growlers can't (like on camping trips or river floats).
The downsides? Well, unlike glass growlers, once you open a crowler, you've got to drink the whole thing - there's no way to reseal it and save some for later. It also requires the bar or brewery to invest in the tabletop seamer machine and have the canning materials on hand, which I imagine would raise the cost to the consumer a little bit.
But overall, I think it's pretty clear that having an on-demand, keg-fresh 32oz can of beer is vastly superior to the growler experience. I've had many a second-day serving from a growler and thereby suffered through a flat, oxidized mockery of the beer that was great just a day before, and I'd be willing to give that up, no questions asked.
So here's hoping that crowlers or similar on-demand canning technology takes off and quickly supplants growlers as the preferred way to take keg-fresh beer home.
I've made my feelings known about the utility of growlers in the past. To summarize briefly: growlers are awkward, cumbersome, difficult to clean and fill properly, and only keep beer fresh for a very short time. Their great success is, I think, owed more to a lack of viable alternatives than any inherent virtues.
So, enter the crowler. A crowler is essentially an on-demand 32oz can of beer that can be created using a modified tabletop metal seamer. It's half the size of a standard growler, but the benefits are numerous: it stays as fresh as a brewery-canned beer until opened, doesn't require cleaning (as the can is recycled like any other aluminum product when it's empty), and can be taken places glass growlers can't (like on camping trips or river floats).
The downsides? Well, unlike glass growlers, once you open a crowler, you've got to drink the whole thing - there's no way to reseal it and save some for later. It also requires the bar or brewery to invest in the tabletop seamer machine and have the canning materials on hand, which I imagine would raise the cost to the consumer a little bit.
But overall, I think it's pretty clear that having an on-demand, keg-fresh 32oz can of beer is vastly superior to the growler experience. I've had many a second-day serving from a growler and thereby suffered through a flat, oxidized mockery of the beer that was great just a day before, and I'd be willing to give that up, no questions asked.
So here's hoping that crowlers or similar on-demand canning technology takes off and quickly supplants growlers as the preferred way to take keg-fresh beer home.
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Breweries of Eugene: Falling Sky
I've got a love/hate relationship with Falling Sky.
They break my heart every time I visit them. They've got great ideas, two well-designed pubs, friendly, attentive staff, and they got their start by running the most comprehensively-equipped brewing supply store in town. I want to like them so badly..
But the sad truth is, their beer is terrible. Whether due to ill-conceived recipes, poor cleaning practices, or simply the belief that what they're making is 'good enough' - the vast majority of what they serve just doesn't work.
I visited their Deli last week with a couple of friends from out of town, and experienced nothing to change my mind. We tried 14 beers, most of which were new to me. One thing you can't fault Falling Sky's brewers for is a lack of willingness to experiment - they've brewed hundreds of different beers since opening 3 years ago. Whether this is a deliberate choice for variety's sake or because they've not come up with a recipe worth brewing twice is unclear.
Of the beers on tap during my visit, most were nigh-undrinkable. A couple were decent, average - but I'd pass them up in a heartbeat for anything coming out of pretty much any other brewery in town. Heck, I know several local homebrewers who make beer that's way more flavorful, interesting, and thoughtful than anything I've had from Falling Sky. And though we didn't have any food on our visit, in my experience it suffers from the same problems as the beer - good ideas ruined by careless or sloppy execution.
And yet, despite all this, Falling Sky's been very successful somehow - they opened their brewpub to great fanfare at the beginning of 2012, with the Deli following just a year and a half later. And I've met people who enjoy both the beer and food very much. Perhaps it's just an issue of personal taste.
What I can say is that my party of 5 people couldn't finish a single 4oz taster of beer between us. We left almost all the beer behind in favor of walking over to Hop Valley.
They break my heart every time I visit them. They've got great ideas, two well-designed pubs, friendly, attentive staff, and they got their start by running the most comprehensively-equipped brewing supply store in town. I want to like them so badly..
But the sad truth is, their beer is terrible. Whether due to ill-conceived recipes, poor cleaning practices, or simply the belief that what they're making is 'good enough' - the vast majority of what they serve just doesn't work.
I visited their Deli last week with a couple of friends from out of town, and experienced nothing to change my mind. We tried 14 beers, most of which were new to me. One thing you can't fault Falling Sky's brewers for is a lack of willingness to experiment - they've brewed hundreds of different beers since opening 3 years ago. Whether this is a deliberate choice for variety's sake or because they've not come up with a recipe worth brewing twice is unclear.
Of the beers on tap during my visit, most were nigh-undrinkable. A couple were decent, average - but I'd pass them up in a heartbeat for anything coming out of pretty much any other brewery in town. Heck, I know several local homebrewers who make beer that's way more flavorful, interesting, and thoughtful than anything I've had from Falling Sky. And though we didn't have any food on our visit, in my experience it suffers from the same problems as the beer - good ideas ruined by careless or sloppy execution.
And yet, despite all this, Falling Sky's been very successful somehow - they opened their brewpub to great fanfare at the beginning of 2012, with the Deli following just a year and a half later. And I've met people who enjoy both the beer and food very much. Perhaps it's just an issue of personal taste.
What I can say is that my party of 5 people couldn't finish a single 4oz taster of beer between us. We left almost all the beer behind in favor of walking over to Hop Valley.
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Beer Bars of Portland: Belmont Station
Somehow, in my many beer-related trips to Portland over the past several years, I've never made it to Belmont Station.
That changed last week thanks to a visiting friend new to much of Portland's beer scene - we stopped in late on a Tuesday to check it out.
As it turns out, Belmont Station's Biercafe is a nice - if small - low-key beer bar in the vein of Eugene's 16 Tons, with the same well-curated taplist, knowledgeable staff, and muted atmosphere designed to foster good conversation. The tap selection included beers from Ex Novo, Sixpoint, Heathen, and Epic, with some interesting-looking ciders also available.
We definitely had an enjoyable time for the short duration of our visit, and I like its residential location with ample street parking - and its proximity to Horse Brass (easy walking distance) doesn't hurt, either.
Unfortunately, the bottle shop had closed by the time we arrived, so I wasn't able to check that out. I've also heard the on-site food cart Italian Market is quite good, but it was similarly already done for the night. It's clear I'll need to make a daytime return trip to Belmont Station sometime soon to get a fuller picture of what they do.
That changed last week thanks to a visiting friend new to much of Portland's beer scene - we stopped in late on a Tuesday to check it out.
As it turns out, Belmont Station's Biercafe is a nice - if small - low-key beer bar in the vein of Eugene's 16 Tons, with the same well-curated taplist, knowledgeable staff, and muted atmosphere designed to foster good conversation. The tap selection included beers from Ex Novo, Sixpoint, Heathen, and Epic, with some interesting-looking ciders also available.
We definitely had an enjoyable time for the short duration of our visit, and I like its residential location with ample street parking - and its proximity to Horse Brass (easy walking distance) doesn't hurt, either.
Unfortunately, the bottle shop had closed by the time we arrived, so I wasn't able to check that out. I've also heard the on-site food cart Italian Market is quite good, but it was similarly already done for the night. It's clear I'll need to make a daytime return trip to Belmont Station sometime soon to get a fuller picture of what they do.
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